The invention relates to an angle drive having a housing with a first axis A1 for bearing means and a second axis A2 for bearing means, which latter axis A2 intersects the first axis A1 at right angles, having an input shaft which is supported in the housing, which carries an input ring gear and is positioned on the first axis A1, having an output shaft, which carries an output gearwheel and is positioned on the second axis A2. Angle drives can be used in many ways in motor vehicles, land machinery and machines tools, just to mention a few application examples. In the field of motor vehicle technology, they are required in four wheel drive vehicles with transversely built-in front engines. As a rule, such vehicles are derived from basic models with a front wheel drive only. In such cases, the angel drive directly follows a differential drive of the front axle, with the input shaft of the angle drive being firmly coupled to the differential carrier of the differential drive. The input shaft of the angle drive is provided in the form of a hollow shaft through which one of the sideshafts of the differential drive leads to the front axle drive.
The installation space of the angle drive to be accommodated in this way between the front axle differential and a drive-shaft behind or underneath the combustion engine is naturally very limited. Because of an ever increasing use of diesel engines with a high torque, the previously used angle drives reach their performance limit, i.e. in maximum torque test runs, the required service life is no longer reached. Because of the limited installation space, the size of the angle drive cannot be increased, and it has to be taken into account that the transferable torque of angle drives is primarily determined by the ring gear diameter which cannot be increased.